While Valentine is still the clear-cut #1 choice, perhaps Joey Cora isn’t as far away from the job as we thought. Heyman later tweeted that if money is a factor in the Brewers’ decision — and everything we’ve read to this point still seems to indicate that it is — Cora is still very much alive:

#brewers owner attanasio told SI no decision yet on manager. and valentine said he has received no offer. if $’s an issue, cora has shot

It’s not all that surprising that Valentine hasn’t been made an offer yet, because Mark Attanasio has been telling everyone who’s asked over the past few days that no decision has been made. Once a decision is made and if Valentine is the choice, then I would imagine he would get a call with an offer. The fact that there’s still apparently a lot of debating left to do makes me think Cora still has a very good chance at getting this job.

Money could be an issue, though, as Valentine recently received a big bump in his ESPN contract after reports surfaced about interest on the part of teams, according to a broadcast source. He also is believed to now have an incentives clause in his contract designed to keep him at ESPN for three more years.

Heyman also notes his contract with the Mets paid him $2.65 million per year, and he made even more — $4 million — in Japan. No wonder the Brewers may be a little shy to pull the trigger.